"A RETURN HOME"

September 12, 2027: Dear Diary, I have been mulling over in my mind what to write. I tried to think of something witty or clever to open, but I am finding it incredibly difficult to be creative with all that has been happening. Yesterday was my 16th birthday, and I appreciate all that Dad did to make my birthday seem at least somewhat normal – but nothing has been normal since even before Mom disappeared last year. At times, it seems like an eternity since I last saw her, and sometimes, it feels like only yesterday. Dad figures it will do me good to have a place to express my feelings and “deal with my grief”. I know he too is suffering, but he just does not understand me, and nothing can ever heal this hole in my heart. Still, I am thankful for this diary and especially for the necklace. It is a delicate gold chain with a large, heart-shaped locket. Dad says the locket was Mom’s, a gift he gave her when they were dating. I will never take the necklace off – ever! I miss you, Mom. I promise to write more soon! – Rebecca

September 17, 2027: Dear Diary, Okay, it has been a few days. I have been meaning to write more, but I don’t even know where to begin. Between the sirens and rolling blackouts, I have struggled to gather my thoughts. Life has descended into chaos. Where to begin? When news outlets first broadcast reports of UFOs, most people laughed it off. Initially, those who issued warnings were labeled “crazy” and “fear mongers”. They were “kooks”! No amount of warning, however, would have made a difference. Nothing could have prepared us. They say the aliens possess technology that far surpasses our own, and that is obvious just by their presence, but it is unclear if the destruction was first caused by them or by us. Mom claimed the aliens never attacked us, but rather, in our efforts to “repel” them, we initiated a global war against ourselves. If they came in peace, we sure botched that up! President Duncan urged patience and restraint, but even many in his own party insisted he was an incompetent old fool, and that any delay would only put us deeper in peril. Before they could impeach him, President Duncan was assassinated, and with him died any hope for peace, it seemed.

September 19, 2027: Dear Diary, I still cling to a thin thread of hope that Mom is alive, and she has just been unable to return home or contact us, but I know she would make every effort to get back home to us. I have a recurring dream that Mom walks through the door as if she was never missing. It has been nearly a year; I know in my heart she is gone, but they never recovered any body from the rubble of her office building. I have cried so much, it feels like I am nearly out of tears. My entire body aches in misery, and I barely eat. I cling to her locket, and I pray. Mom was a prayer warrior. Dad says I get that from her. When the aliens first arrived, some turned to God, but many others abandoned God. How could God allow this? Mom never wavered in her faith, and I find comfort in her steadfast faith. Mom, wherever you are, I miss you, and I love you! Until we meet again! – Rebecca

September 26, 2027: Dear Diary, When we first heard about the aliens, I imagined them as mutant, albino-looking creatures with long, thin limbs, elongated skulls, and ominous black eyes. I suppose I watched too much television! In reality, they look pretty much just like us. There really isn’t anything scary-looking about them. They could blend right in, and nobody would probably even notice. I wonder if I have ever unknowingly met an alien before. Emma, from my fourth-grade class – she was probably an alien! She was always so different. Dad tries to remain positive, but I see the fear and helplessness in his eyes. The aliens are surely just waiting for us to finish the wars before they complete the job of taking over the earth – or at least what is left of it!

October 18, 2027: Dear Diary, I feared I would never see you again. We were forced to abandon our home when the bombing raids approached, and I figured we might never return. What a relief to find our home was spared from the attacks. However, looters swept through the town, and once-scarce resources are now essentially non-existent. Up until now, we have been among the more fortunate ones. Living in the Midwest, we have not been hit as hard as those on either coast. We see the reports on television: large tent cities have been decimated by unrelenting crime waves. Blood runs through the streets. Crime and famine threaten to destroy our once-rich nation – and it seems like nobody is taking any action to stop this. Does anybody really care anymore? I doubt it. At least our government does not care. It is all about self-survival now. They are predicting a brutal winter, and many are barely holding on now. Many interstates and bridges have been systematically destroyed by state militia to keep intruders from crossing state lines. Nobody can be trusted any longer. This most recent wave of local bombings was most likely engineered by a small group of marauders who call themselves “salvagers”. We call them “savages”. Most neighborhoods have their own sentinel forces to stop the salvagers, but the salvagers have become sophisticated. In the beginning, they stripped the resources mostly from abandoned areas, but as resources grew more scarce, they evolved into terrorist groups, relying mostly on homemade explosives and coordinated guerilla-style hit-and-run attacks, forcing people to evacuate so the salvagers could rob entire communities. We are truly seeing the darkest side of humanity! It is not the aliens I fear most of the time, but rather the humans. God help us!

October 21, 2027: Dear Diary, Did you know that the universe is 13.8 billion years old? There are billions upon trillions of stars, and every one of those stars represents another sun. How many of those solar systems support life? The idea that we are not alone in the universe is not at all surprising; in fact, it seemed utterly ridiculous, even egocentric, to have believed we were alone. When reports of the UFOs first surfaced, it was exciting. The Fermi Paradox might finally be solved. The Fermi Paradox presents two big theories which seem to counter one another. First, that among those trillions of stars are many which are much older than our own sun, and the likelihood of life out there is almost certain. Some of those civilizations must be far older and far more advanced than our own, and, therefore, someone out there would inevitably have colonized the galaxy. At the same time, since there is, or should I say “was”, no evidence of alien life, there exists a paradox. Mr. Nelson, my Earth-Space Science teacher, suggested that any civilization would likely perish before they could develop the technology to cross the cosmos. Planets can only sustain life for a relatively brief period. I wonder what Mr. Nelson would think now? It has been over a year since we attended school. I wonder if we will ever get back to normal. I doubt it.

October 31, 2027: Dear Diary, Today is Halloween! Boo! Should I dress up as an alien?! Obviously, there are no longer Halloween parties, trick-or-treating, haunted houses, hayrack rides, or any other traditional holiday festivities. We stay locked inside of our homes, for fear we will be kidnapped, robbed, murdered, or worse. Our society is quickly crumbling. Dad still works at “the factory”, as do many of the men in the community. He doesn’t talk much about what they do, but I have gathered that they harvest food and manufacture enough supplies to keep us existing. Salvagers have attempted to access the factory, but even during the evacuation, some men stayed behind to protect this one last storehouse. We are on strict rations, but evidently, the salvagers did not reach the factory. Most of the news we receive is from the Emergency Public Radio Broadcast. Today, they reported that North Korea launched a warning shot against the United States in retaliation for what they described as “unlawful barricades”. I am truly afraid for all of us. Manufacturing across the globe has nearly ceased. Homelessness, famine, and crime now threaten us far beyond any threat the aliens seem to pose. Hospitals have nearly shut down, medications are no longer available, and even drinking water has become so scarce, that people are willing to kill for it. Will this ever end?

November 12, 2027: Dad left three days ago, and he has not yet returned. His last words to me, like every day, were: “Keep the doors locked, no matter what.” I feel painfully and desperately alone. In the streets, I hear gunfire, distant explosions, and chaos. Is the world coming to an end? On the radio this morning, they reported multiple nuclear strikes across the globe. They claim the aliens initiated this from various locations around the world. Mom’s locket has become my good luck charm and the only thing tethering me to some sense of sanity, but I have clutched it so tightly it has etched a permanent heart-shaped imprint into my hand. Oh, how I wish you were here, Mom. I am so scared. Please somebody – anybody – help me! I am almost more afraid now to live than I am to die.

Epilogue, March 15, 2035: “We came in peace. We never intended you any harm, but your unrestrained fear led you to destroy yourselves. You were us. You had our DNA. You were the aliens on this planet, colonized many, many years ago when we sent our DNA across space in an effort to save our own species. Your species. Humankind. It was our best effort to survive. You destroyed the real earthlings a very long time ago. We were so excited to discover you were thriving here on Earth. Our colonization experiment here on Earth, once championed, has predictably ended in catastrophe, and only now is the surface of the Earth beginning to return to a habitable state. What we have observed in each human colony is always the same. Just as we did on our own native planet, we do in every colonization; we destroy ourselves. It is our destiny.”